When head coach Adam Gase called the Dolphins’ offense “garbage” last week and suggested the team was going to “figure something out” and “make some changes” nobody suspected his plan was to bench the entire offense. That’s exactly what Gase did in week 4’s game against the Saints in London last Sunday. Gase is known for solving performance issues by benching players, demoting them, or flat out leaving them at home. Consistent with his “perform or get benched” philosophy, Gase left every Dolphins offensive player in Miami in response to their poor performance against the Jets in week 3.

“Well, we looked at the success we had last year when we left Ajayi at home in the Seattle game,” Gase said when asked about the absurd move. “We thought Jay responded well and thought, ok, let’s see who else responds to the same type of thing.”

It’s yet to be seen if the offense will respond to this strong message sent by the coaches. In 2016 Ajayi was benched in week 1, then unbenched in week 2, but he didn’t have his breakout game until week 6 against the Steelers. If the offense serves the same sentence, they should hypothetically be back on the field for next week’s home opener against the Titans, but the Dolphins may not be able to wait one week, let alone several weeks, for their offense to rev the engines.

When Gase was asked if he thought the missing offense contributed to the team being shutout he said, “Probably, but you can’t make excuses. We had eleven other players on the other side of the ball. It’s got to be next man up mentality. I mean the defense did a good job. I hear this Drew Brees guy is pretty good and they held him to twenty points. We just have to clean up some things and find a way to score some points. Whether that means Wake needs to return a strip-sack fumble for a touchdown, or Reshad can get a safety on a blitz, or maybe one of the young guys can step up with a pick six. I don’t know, but we need to figure it out quick.”

The move was especially unprecedented and harsh considering it came during the London game. Several players lost the opportunity to partake in the once-in-a-lifetime international festivities. London native Jay Ajayi missed a rare chance at a home-coming game.

“It’s beyond words. Really tough,” said wide receiver Jarvis Landry. “It’s disappointing, but it is what it is. There are no excuses for what we did in the Jets game. We’ve put ourselves in a hole and now we need to find a way to get back on the field and help our defense score points.”

In all fairness, the poor performance in the Jets game was due to the Dolphins intentionally throwing the game, but the offense was clearly the bigger contributor to the loss, with a measly six garbage time points and a missed extra point. Quarterback Jay Cutler sees that as an irrelevant excuse.

“Is that even a real thing?” Cutler said. “Isn’t that just a parody thing some debonair reporter wrote as a cheap way to get views on his article? I don’t know because I don’t read those things. You all (the media) know as much as I do about that. I’m just ready to get back on the field and help the team win at this point. No matter what it takes. If that means throwing a block or selling a route when split out wide in the Wildcat, let’s do it. We just have to work together.

Spencer J Taylor

Spencer J Taylor was raised in an NCAA Division-1 football coaching and sports administration family. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing including studies in Creative Nonfiction from New Mexico State University, where he studied under prolific sports writer Rus Bradburd, author of Forty Minutes of Hell: The Extraordinary Life of Nolan Richardson.